This invention relates in general to a system for manually anchoring a beach blanket to the ground or sand.
Commonly, visitors to a park or beach will use a blanket or towel to serve as a ground covering. It is often difficult to maintain the blanket in a stretched out and stationary position flat against the ground due to wind disturbance or occupant movement on top of the blanket. It is therefore desirable to secure or anchor the blanket to the ground to prevent the blanket from moving.
It has been known to anchor the blanket to the ground by means of tie-down pins which are manually inserted into the sand or ground. The upper portions of the tie-down pins have clamps or clips having a pair of opposed hinged jaws. The corners of the blanket are inserted between the jaws, thereby securing the corners of the blanket to the pins. The pins are then inserted into the ground, thereby anchoring the blanket to the ground. Since the corners of the blanket are only held in place by frictional and spring forces of the clips, the corners can be easily pulled out of the jaws. Typically, the clips include multiple interconnecting parts which are relatively costly to produce and assemble. The clips can also be easily broken, for example, by someone stepping on them. A further disadvantage of the use of the tie-down pins is that they can be lost or misplaced relative to the blanket.